I was hoping to be able to have a party for him with a bunch of kids, because apart from Jordy’s 1st birthday party neither of the kids have really had a party (yeah, i am a totally slack mum! i know) but a couple of their friends were out of town, and then both boys got sick… and it just was not going to happen.

He spent the days leading up to his birthday asking about what kind of cake he was having and who he wanted at his party…. ok, tell the truth, he’s spent the MONTHS leading up to his birthday asking how much longer he had to wait! LOL! So finally the day arrived and he got presents!!! and balloons!!! and he had Nanny lined up with the cake.

Darcy was too sick to get involved, which was a shame, so he mostly dozed through the present opening ceremony. And Darcy and i did not get to make it to Jordy’s party at the golf club but Tim said Jordy had a great time with a whole pack of kids and i’ll upload those photos when i get them.

And the bloody trumpet (thanks Mum and Dad) was not the best toy with a sick bubba in the house so i had to tell Jordy to go outside and play for the cows (which he did for about an hour!).

I am now going to have to make sure that Darcy has a REAL party when he turns 3.

And this is the result- The letter in the middle is Jordy drawing a fork, cos that was how Tim described the letter Y when Jordy asked what a Y looks like cos he forgot! And the L is back-to-front… and the H does not look too much like a H…. but i reckon it’s pretty impressive for a not-quite-4yr old.

I’ll get the kids to colour in some oranges and things later to stick up there seeing as all the citrus in our yard is now falling of the trees… and maybe do some of that tissue paper crumbling thing and make some cold ocean scenes or something… not sure. But the poems are nice and they like the little wooden peg men in their winter cloaks.

Actually, thinking about our citrus trees, me showing the kids how to choose a nice ripe mandarin and to pick their own might not have been a great idea- they seem to like them, and three mandarins each in the space of an hour is not so great later on.

Jordy sang a song about going fishing in a boat with his Dad and building a sand castle and row row rowing his boat.

Darcy sang a song about having a biscuit in the loungeroom in front of the tv with spiders in the mirror.

I wish i could have video’ed them without ruining the moment.

And yes, they are both naked. It is freezing cold and i think i was still wearing my flannie jammies at that point but the kids had both stripped off and were refusing all offers of clothing.

(oh, and his cousin helped with all the letters so don’t think that was him)

The other day he even asked me to sit really still so he could draw a portrait of me! hehehe. That picture turned out looking like a heap of circles and lines that bore little resemblance to me (or any person) but i think it was really cute that he even thought to have a go.

But despite the lack of dinosaurs both boys had a great time. They loved looking at the old ‘everyday’ things like the laundry and kitchen set ups and old clothes and walking though the mock up of the old bedrooms. I was actually amazed by how much Jordy really soaked it all in and seemed to be fascinated by how people used to live (the old bath and water heater had him asking all sorts of questions). Was good having the guided tour and all the other kids who asked lots of questions and got everyone thinking about history from their point of view.

He keeps asking to go back now so we’ll have to go for another look through over winter.

And then on the way to the park for a group picnic and a play we ran into a little pony

We also had a pecan picking day, which was fun for something totally different. And when they got sick of waiting for me to crack the nuts for them they decided to do it themselves. So we spent as much time sitting in the grass spitting out nut shells as we did collecting them.

In the mean time here are some photos that i have only just copied over to my computer.
They had a petting zoo in at Settlement during the school holidays which was cool. The animals did not seem at all bothered to be there (though i imagine they might all need to go on a diet afterwards from the amount of food that was being offered to them by excited toddlers.)

Jordy loved the ducks, probably because he has never had the chance to pat one before. But Darcy just liked the big soft goats. They had guinea pigs in there too and i don’t think the boys have ever held one before but because there were so many kids in the little enclosure the guinea pigs were safely tucked away in their own little space. I’ll have to keep my eye out next school holidays and see if they can hold one.

They also have three puppies up there at the moment (as well as the rest of the dogs) and they are adorable and jumpy and playful and run around the kids like crazy animals, which makes Darcy cack himself laughing.

And some other random photos….
Here is Darcy in the back yard. A perfect balance of sunny days with evening showers means the grass just grows and grows…. the pumpkin vines came up to his thighs in some places

Darcy loves anything with scissors. Jordy just brings home book after book on space, dinosaurs, and volcanos.

These are just a heap of photos from my mobile phone from over the last couple of months…

In the photo of everyone sitting and listening the boys are pretty much right in the middle of the photo sitting all over Jo. It’s rather adorable.